The Scorpion's Sting: Antislavery and the Coming of the Civil War
A Washington Post Notable Work of Nonfiction
The image of a scorpion surrounded by a ring of fire, stinging itself to death, was widespread among antislavery leaders before the Civil War. It captures their long-standing strategy for peaceful abolition: they would surround the slave states with a cordon of freedom, constricting slavery and inducing the social crisis in which the peculiar institution would die. The image opens a fresh perspective on antislavery and the coming of the Civil War, brilliantly explored here by one of our greatest historians of the period.
1116819126
The Scorpion's Sting: Antislavery and the Coming of the Civil War
A Washington Post Notable Work of Nonfiction
The image of a scorpion surrounded by a ring of fire, stinging itself to death, was widespread among antislavery leaders before the Civil War. It captures their long-standing strategy for peaceful abolition: they would surround the slave states with a cordon of freedom, constricting slavery and inducing the social crisis in which the peculiar institution would die. The image opens a fresh perspective on antislavery and the coming of the Civil War, brilliantly explored here by one of our greatest historians of the period.
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The Scorpion's Sting: Antislavery and the Coming of the Civil War
The image of a scorpion surrounded by a ring of fire, stinging itself to death, was widespread among antislavery leaders before the Civil War. It captures their long-standing strategy for peaceful abolition: they would surround the slave states with a cordon of freedom, constricting slavery and inducing the social crisis in which the peculiar institution would die. The image opens a fresh perspective on antislavery and the coming of the Civil War, brilliantly explored here by one of our greatest historians of the period.
James Oakes is one of our foremost Civil War historians and a two-time winner of the Lincoln Prize for his works on the politics of abolition. He teaches at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.
Table of Contents
Introduction: At Stake 13
1 "Like a Scorpion Girt by Fire" 22
2 The Right versus the Wrong of Property in Man 51
3 Race Conflict 77
4 The Wars over Wartime Emancipation 104
Epilogue: Harriet Beecher Stowe and Her British Sisters 166